


How to Adapt: A Guide by Someone Who's Doing It Wrong

by Allegory_for_Hatred



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara needs a hug too, Friendship, I'm Bad At Tagging, Papyton is used as a plot device tbh, Sans Needs A Hug, Self-Hatred, Timelines, will add more tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-07-15 23:15:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7242811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allegory_for_Hatred/pseuds/Allegory_for_Hatred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans makes some bad life decisions.<br/>Frisk goes AWOL.<br/>Chara calls the shots.<br/>Flowey is jealous.<br/>No one else knows what's going on, but it doesn't look good.<br/>----<br/>In which Sans gets tired of the resets and Chara gives him some bad advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ignorance

Sometimes he liked to pretend the world wasn't perpetually ending. It never lasted long, this false hope, and usually landed him wasted in Grillby's bar. An unfortunate series of event perpetuated by a series of entirely different unfortunate events.

This was one such time. Sans had been doing fairly well, all things considered. But then his brother had mentioned something totally meaningless and irrelevant that somehow sent Sans on a spiral leading him back to the resets.

So, in the end, the skeleton had ended up sitting at the bar, clutching something that definitely wasn't sobering. Grillby spent his night glancing down at Sans with a moderate level of concern in his fiery gaze, but no comfort beyond that. Instead, the elemental handed the skeleton a drink and then another and another until Sans was a blubbering mess of alcohol and angst.

There were some timelines where Sans would spill everything to the bartender in a drunken haze. The timelines and the kid's genocidal tendencies spilling out of him just like his tears were. The alcohol made it difficult to recall Grillby's response, but Sans could imagine that they weren't overly positive. This timeline, Sans didn't speak to the monster. Instead, he just quietly sipped his ketchup and stared into the bar's flickering shadows.

The fire monster cleaned a glass by hand, shooting Sans a worried look. "...What's wrong?"

"Huh?" The bar was empty and a quick look at the empty streets through the windows confirmed how late it was. Sans pushed back against the stool, wobbling to his feet as he stood up, "Sorry, Grillbz. Didn't notice you'd closed."

"…Papyrus usually comes to pick you up by now." Grillby observed, still cleaning the same glass. The glass was spotless.

Sans looked away. Darkness rimmed his eyes. "Yeah." The kid killed Papyrus first. A few monsters here and there. Grillby was something of an odd case in every timeline seeing as he sometimes didn't even realize someone had died. Other times it was Grillby telling Sans to evacuate with him. It was always a struggle with the element.

Grillby looked up from his glass cleaning, a crackle sounding from his flame in something like concern. "Is he... not coming?"

"Nah. See ya later, G."

"Sans, I... I don't know what's bothering you, but..." The skeleton gave Grillby a moment to collect his thoughts. One often had to wait for the quiet flame to form his words carefully. "...I think of us as friends. Is...Is something wrong between you and your brother? If you—"

"My bro is dead." The door pushed open with a small squeak that evolved into a loud groaning. Sans spared a final glance over his shoulder to see the red flames dimming low.

"...What was that? ...I-I didn't quite catch that?" Grillby moved around the counter and towards Sans.

A creak marked Sans' loosening hold on the door. "The human killed Pap."

"...Sans..." Grillby lowered himself to Sans' level, getting on his knees and pulling the skeleton into a warm embrace, "...I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"It's fine." Sans' soul thudded in his chest as he tried to push out of Grillby's hug. He pushed the monster back with an outstretched hand.

Grillby looked down, shocked. "...Yes. Of course. I-I'll let you go then." He looked at the snowy weather silently, save the crackling of his flame. "...If you... need anything Don't hesitate to come over. I'm...I'm here for you, Sans."

Sans left. He wouldn't be coming back to Grillby's, not that timeline, at least. Maybe the next one—no. Definitely the next one. Talking about Papyrus' death wasn't something Sans liked to do. Not because it was still a fresh wound but because it wasn't. He'd talked about his brother's death so many times over the previous timelines that it really held no meaning anymore. Sure, Sans' brother was dead. In an minute or so, he wouldn't be anymore.

Speaking of the resets, the world began to shake. Not physically, but some underlying current in the air began to vibrate and hum. The static noise played loudly in Sans' head. For a brief moment, everything went black.

Sans was suddenly aware of the warmth of wool covering his body and the turbulent whirring of a trash tornado. The kid must have reset because Papyrus was shouting from downstairs and Sans was painfully aware of how dead his brother was a second ago.

"Sans! Wake up you lazybones!" Sans knew his brother word for word, "We need to recalibrate the puzzles! I have a feeling that today will be the day, brother! Nyeheh!"

The older brother rolled over in bed and groaned. If he could have his way, Sans would choose to lie in bed all day memorizing the patterns in the blanket. If not that, then at Grillby's. "Keep it together," Sans told himself, sliding off the bed and onto his feet. Sans had to follow the script, there was no two ways around it that he could see. If the human child knew that he remembered their resets... Sans didn't want to think about it.

 

\----

 

No one had died in the timeline, which was a plus. But Sans would have prefered someone had. His hatred of pacifist timelines was born of countless resets. There was a time that he loved seeing the stars light up the sky, but seeing them over and over again and knowing that he'd be back underground eventually really put a damper on the whole thing.

Sans reminisced. The first few timelines were surprising, but Sans figured the human was just working things out. Trying to save everyone, including that stupid plant. Sans always figured the resets would eventually stop. But if that were the case, he wouldn't be waiting to judge the human in a golden hall like he was.

 

\----

 

The first time they chose Neutral.

Neutral being the route the human child, Frisk, had taken. Sans began classifying the timelines pretty soon after he noticed a pattern. He liked the Neutral timelines the best. Well, that wasn't entirely true. True Pacifist were optimal. Frisk didn't kill any monster and everyone made it to the surface.

The second time they chose True Pacifist.

Sans liked this one the best. Well, that was true either. He did at first. Seeing the stars. Seeing the sun. It was all he really wanted from the surface world he'd dreamed of for so long. He liked the surface, sure, but the kid was a bit... trigger-happy with the whole reset thing.

The third time they chose True Pacifist, again.

Frisk spoke to more monsters and doubled back a few times. They spent longer in the ruins and called Papyrus more. The ending was the same, for which Sans was grateful, if not a little concerned. The human child seemed upset when they reached the surface. Sans didn't know why.

The fourth time they chose Neutral.

But it wasn't the same. They killed a good few monsters. Just some froggits and other monsters that Sans tended to overlook. Frisk made it to his hall and he judged them good enough and they went on to the king. Sans didn't go to watch.

The fifth time they chose Neutral.

There was no voice behind the door. Sans tried not to blame the kid. They were curious and they had power to undo everything. He could understand, sort of. He still hadn't told the kid he could remember the resets. Someone with a dark curiosity and power. He wasn't sure he wanted their full attention.

The sixth time they chose Neutral.

There was a red scarf in the snow.

From there it only got worse. The kid, Frisk, slowly worked their way through all the monsters. It began as just a few. Then the next time, they'd kill just a few more. The next time they'd kill all the monsters who attacked them.

The twenty-ninth time they chose Genocide.

It was the most emotionally draining for Sans. First Toriel. Then Papyrus. Then Undyne. Then Mettaton. And everyone in between. And everyone after. Sans, too. He could always feel it, even in the better timelines. Diagonally, right to left, tearing through bone until it dissolved into a powdery dust. It itched a constant reminder that he should be dead along with every other monster in the underground. But he wasn't. And they weren't either.

Genocide was always Sans' least favorite. The human would kill everyone. Not just his friends. But everyone. The froggit. The temmie. Everyone. When they fought Sans, it was a real struggle. He found it mildly difficult to keep his smile smiling and not to spill everything. That he remembered and to please just stop. He couldn't let the human know because they were curious and had power and were running out of things to do. He found himself telling them a little anyway.

It took the human a very long time to kill him. Which is to say it took them many timelines to kill him. Sans was powerful, surprisingly so, to many. Monsters were always underestimating him, but that was fine. Apparently humans did too. When the human-that-might-not-be-human-anymore finally did land that striking blow, Sans accepted the darkness that followed with open arms. He was so, so tired.

Which is why he was surprised when the next timeline they chose pacifism. The entirety of monsterkind made it to the surface. And Sans was shocked by the stars all over again, to a lesser extent than Papyrus had been, however. But nothing was good and he should have known all along.

That was around the time that Sans realized the human child was playing soulless now. Something else was in control; something darker. It was official. None of the timelines could end without at least one monster dying. Sans stopped looking forward to the remote possibility of a Pacifist timeline.

For the next however-long, his brother died every single day.

And that became his normal. Everything about the timelines and the resets was abnormal, but it went on for so long that it became normal. It was complicated to explain to others so he usually didn't. Sans had tried to explain what was happening to others a few times but they always forgot in the end anyway.

The worst part was that Sans stopped caring. He'd seen his brother die so many times it didn't come as a shock to see a red scarf in the snow anymore. He'd pick it up and take it home. Sometimes he'd wrap it around his neck, but always removed it before leaving for Judgment Hall. Because the kid couldn't know.

 

\----

 

But they already did.

Or at least they had the suspicion. Sans would say things. Odd things that the human would pick out of his sentences and ponder over sometimes. Usually during their fight. But they couldn't be sure. Not yet, at least. Sans had always been a bit of a mystery to them, anyway. So when he flinched at their words sometimes, it rose a few questions. But the human couldn't jump to any conclusions because they had just killed a lot of monsters and were also pretty threatening with that knife.

If Sans had been hiding his memories from them, he was doing a pretty good job.

 

\----

 

It was funny that the Judge judged himself hardest of all. It wasn't, really, but Sans had a good, long laugh about it anyway. He didn't so much judge himself for what he had done, but for what he hadn't. The timelines were completely messed up at this point, and really only had himself to blame. There were so many things he could have done, still could do. But if the world was already broken, what could a few more cracks do? Eventually, the world, time, space, everything would just be one big, shattered mess of a place and Sans would be to blame.

This timeline had gone normally, as far as a Soulless Pacifist timeline could. The kid was nice to the extent that they could fake without coming off as too forced and everyone had believed that false warm glow of theirs. Everyone but Sans, of course. He knew how to fake things well enough to know the signs.

Judgment Hall always had a golden glow to it. Sans might have found it calming if he hadn't known what would be walking down the hall soon. A veritable monster, really. Not the monster kind, like Sans was, but the darker, more nonphysical kind. But if he were to fight them anywhere, Sans was glad it was this final hallway. To be standing there just felt right. It felt final in the way that dying should and he was definitely going to die in that hall. Just not in this timeline.

Speak of the devil.

The human child proudly strutted down the golden hallway. At some point during their runs, the kid had switched up the old purple striped shirt for something yellow and green. Sans couldn't care less, really. But he did find it odd that the kid would switch up something so trivial.

A faraway bell chimed three times.

"So you finally made it," the skeleton repeated from his script. It wasn't a literal script, he just had a really good memory for what he'd said the first time. Sans wasn't sure he could forget. Sans wasn't sure he wanted to remember. "The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will m—"

"So I've been doing some thinking." The human child conversationally cut into Sans' mandatory monologue, "You used to smile different."

"—eet the king. Together... You will determine the future of this world."

"Oh, you and I both know that's already happened." They smiled.

Sans trudged through the rest of his dialogue while attempting to maintain his calm façade. The kid was talking like they knew he remembered the resets. It wasn't the first time they'd attempted to get a reaction out of him. He usually continued on without much of a reaction, but maybe that gave him away more than anything. But, seriously, how did the kid know? Had he been too obvious? What had he done different? The skeleton tried to think of how the human could have figured out the secret of his memories, but came up empty. As far as he could recollect, he had always followed his script perfectly. Perhaps he had been too liberal with his timespace shenanigans and references to the resets. In the end, he was his own undoing, he supposed. "That's then." He continued, voice quiet and tinged with a sternness he hadn't known of, "Now. You will be judged."

The child smiled. Grinned, really. It was dark, but not entirely fake. Perhaps more morbid and shadowed with hate that Sans had seen before, but not fake. This smile was the kid's true smile. "You will be judged for your every action." They piped up, mimicking the words Sans' mouth was already moving to form but hadn't quite yet. "Hey Sans. Do you remember when I killed everyone?"

The skeleton took a step back, eye alight with fear and suspicion. They knew. The human knew that he remembered. They knew and they were curious. Terribly, terribly curious. And determined. It was a deadly mix. The curiosity to know something and the determination to actually get up and do it. Sans breathed out heavily, despite not having lungs. "I-I don't know," his chest shuddered, "what your talking 'bout kid." But his eye was flaring with color it wasn't supposed to know. Not in this type of timeline, at least. Maybe it was his face that gave him away in the end.

"Well, Sansy! I'll be honest, I had my suspicions!" The were still smiling. So was Sans. "But it is true, isn't it? You can remember them? My resets?"

"You gonna let me finish my speech or are you going to keep cutting me off?" He was still hoping to get the conversation back on track.

"Cutting you off has been working pretty well so far. I think I'll keep it up." The kid walked forward confidently, slipping into place at Sans' side, "So it's true, right?"

"Don't know what your talking 'bout, kid."

"Come on, Sansy! You can tell me!"

So he was found out. There was really no way to salvage this conversation and Sans was tired of lying. He'd kept up a mask of ignorance for countless timelines (300? 400? He lost count a long time ago). Sans' eyes briefly turned to the human in thought. He could come clean about his memory. He wouldn't be alone. The only downfall being that he would become the focus of a sadistic killer. Sans weighed his options.

The human, for their part, was silent, seemingly giving Sans time to think. Their eyes gleamed with the excitement of something new in a monotonous world.

This was a bad idea. "You got me kid. I remember your resets."

"Wait, really?" The human turned to look Sans in the eye, "Oh, Sansy, this just got so much more interesting!"

Sans grew still suddenly.

"Think of the possibilities! You and me versus the Underground! It must be so boring to live the same day 486 times in a row." The soulless human seemed to have planned this all out ahead of time and Sans quietly wondered how long they'd suspected him. "I'll help out with that, okay? From here on out, these timelines are all about you!"

 

\----

 

Sans was a wool blanket and his mind was a trash tornado.


	2. Goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slow progression of events.

Sans' favorite part of each reset was just before the human came. Papyrus was chipper and alive. In those few hours, or minutes, depending on how fast the kid was, Sans could relax. He still had to smile around Papyrus, which had grown more difficult as the timelines wore him down, but it had always been easier to smile for his brother than to smile for the human. 

So...he had come clean about the resets to the person he trusted the least. And they had taken it... well? Sans' head was a fog of missed opportunities and doubt. The problem with the human knowing he could remember their resets was that now they were focused on him. They had the power to relive life over and over again and Sans had the ability to be emotionally damaged. 

"Sans! Wake up you lazybones! We need to recalibrate the puzzles! I have a feeling that today will be the day, brother! Nyeheh!" 

"I'll bet," Sans groaned, rolling over in bed but not standing up. He couldn't just get up. The human's eyes were focused only on him and Sans could hardly even imagine what they had planned for him. He had an eternity to find out. 

Ugh. This whole thing was a mess, but Sans didn't necessarily regret his decision to tell the human. There was certainly a heavy weight lifted off of Sans' chest. A promise for change. Repeating the same day over and over again was tedious (living was tedious). Sans just hoped the change was good. 

So the human had plans, so did Sans. Sleep, drink, smile. Repeat. He only wished he knew what the human's plans were. He assumed they'd be coming out of the Ruins with one at least. 

"Sans!" His brother was still calling for him. Sans must have gotten lost in thought for too long, because Papyrus was knocking the door open and poking his head in. "A human could appear at any moment! You must always be ready for battle!" 

Groaning and getting to his feet, Sans glanced up at the taller skeleton. Papyrus was wearing his battle body, like usual. Seeing his brother acting so optimistic always warmed Sans' soul, but if he were to be honest, Sans hardly remembered making the outfit. In a linear sense, he had only made it a few weeks ago, but with the resets, it had been more than a year. "I'm up." 

Papyrus rolled his eyes and made a series of scathing remarks before hurrying back down the stairs. Sans knew he should probably hurry downstairs so he could be waiting for the human to arrive, but he was hesitant. Only slightly; a part of Sans recognized that no matter what he did, it wouldn't matter. Either way, he pushed his way out of his room and down the stairs to see Papyrus waiting by the door. "No breakfast?" 

"Nyeh! Had you woken up earlier you might have gotten to taste my wonderful breakfast spaghetti!" The taller skeleton looked away sheepishly, "Though I, the Great Papyrus, has saved you some. You will locate it in the fridge." Man. His brother was so cool. 

"Thanks, bro." 

\---- 

"Sans!" The human turned around prematurely to shake Sans' hand, "A new day, a new timeline! Number 488! This is going to be a good one." 

"Where'd you get all this energy, kid?" He wasn't quite as excited as they were. Actually, Sans was rather terrified of what the kid might be planning. What fresh hell they had planned for him. 

They shook their head. "I'm just excited for all the fun stuff we're going to do together." 

"Together?" He'd admit his curiosity. Doing the same things over and over again tended to make new activities desirable. "Just what have you got planned?" 

"Not much, at the moment," the human shrugged, looking sheepish, "I figure you and I could have some fun with these ignorant monsters for awhile. Then break the barrier, or something. It might be fun to screw with Flowey." 

All in all, the plan was rather... lackluster? Sans really expected more pain and suffering from the genocidal child. He squinted, "I really expected you to skin me alive or something." He silently patted himself on the back for the skeleton joke before watching the kid for a reaction. 

"Don't be so self-absorbed. This isn't just about you," They toyed with the frayed part of their sweater, "Besides, I could spend a few hundred more timelines trying to break you down, but I think I've done a pretty good job of that already." 

"I'm not self-absorbed, I just don't know if it's a good idea to change what I do too much. Who knows what the consequences could be." But that was a lie; there were no consequences in this world. The world with no goodbyes. If anything, Sans was borderline apathetic at this point. What did he care? 

"Then let's find out. It's all so boring when you know how everyone will react." 

Sans looked away, contemplation written on his bones. He found it hard to disagree. "Maybe some other time, kid. Pap is coming." 

\---- 

They lied their way through the Papyrus meeting and subsequent puzzles. Sans was worried the human wouldn't play along, but they seemed eager to progress the storyline. Sans didn't ask why; his mind was elsewhere. For one: what was the human thinking? He thought they might have been lying to him. Telling him of their innocence in order to distract from what they had planned. 

\---- 

The next time they met, the human was coming up on Waterfall. Sans had done a fairly good job of avoiding them until they got their, even going as far as to lock himself in his lab until the human stopped looking for him. At one point, Sans heard the frightened yelp of his brother when the human smashed his room's window and tried to climb in. 

"You've been avoiding me," the human observed. 

"I've been busy working, kid," it wasn't entirely a lie. He'd certainly been working hard at dodging the kid. 

They snorted. "Sure. We going to Grillby's?" 

Sans shuffled out from behind his stand and shrugged. He'd already skipped brunch and breakfast to amuse the kid, and he wasn't planning on skipping lunch too. The skeleton held out a hand. "Over here. I know a shortcut." 

The human took his hand and they teleported to Grillby's instantly. Sans smiled slightly as he felt reality warp around him. It was always a freeing feeling to have reality at your whim, if only for just a moment. Completely detached from the world for only a second. It was enough. 

They blinked up at him, a telling smile on their face. "Fast shortcut." They commented, "One of these days your going to have to tell about how that works. It has to be magic, right?" 

Sans shrugged. "Hey everyone." 

The patrons of Grillby's responded in turn. Sans, for his part, ignored most of them, only stopping to respond to Fish monster that called him out for not having come in yet that day. "Have you been feeling bonely without me?" He ignored the sound of chuckling to instead take a seat in front of the flaming bartender. 

"Fries for me, please!" The human called, climbing up onto the seat to Sans' left. They looked to have something on their mind. "No whoopee cushion? You've lost your touch." 

"Guess I haven't been trying hard enough." Sans commented coldly. Being around the human was awkward now that they had acknowledged each other fully. For once, they didn't know what each other would say. Silence reigned for a minute. 

The human picked at their fries when they came. "You usually do all the talking here." At Sans' grunt, they continued, "So I'm just going to lay it all out for you here. I could spend some more time trying to break you down until you’re a sobbing mess, but when you're totally out of commission, then there's nothing new for me. Do you get what I mean? If I break you, then the timelines will start to become the same again, except with you not doing anything. Everyone will always act the same again. But if you and me work together, then we have so many more opportunities. First option: neither of us get what we want. You end up broken and alone; and I end up bored out of my skull. Second option: both of us get what we want. You get to break from that stupid script of yours and I can have some actual fun." 

Sans was silent. Mostly because that was a really good offer, but also because every bone in his body was telling him to say no. 

The stool skinned the wooden floor as the human pushed themselves out of it. "I'll give you some time to think it over. See you around, Sansy!" 

\---- 

Sans wasn't waiting for the human at his other posts. He could almost hear Undyne's anger from where he sat at Grillby's bar. Which was laughable, because he had heard Undyne's anger in a few previous timelines. He could recite her words at this point, so actually listening to her rant wasn't really necessary. Sans could just yell at himself for the same experience. 

He must have been scowling, because Grillby gently placed a flaming hand on the bar in front of Sans. A sad, curious look was scorched into his features. "...What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, G. Just doing some thinking." Sans looked up at Grillby, hand holding up a surprisingly malleable cheek. 

Grillby poured a drink for another customer before turning back to the somber skeleton. "Sans, I... I don't know what's bother you, but... I think of us as friends. If you... need anything..." Grillby trailed off in a mimicry of his past selves. 

"Nah," Sans' eyelights flickered, "Actually. Yeah. I could use some advice." 

A flame sparked. "...I'd be glad to help." 

"So let's say that, uh, hypothetically, I've been given a choice." Sans fumbled for the correct words, suddenly realizing just how complicated his dilemma was. "The first choice, I give up on everything I've been working towards to do something I might actually enjoy." 

Grillby perked up, "...The other option?" 

"The other option, I don't abandon my moralities only to do something I will most likely regret." Sans took a swig from his ketchup. 

"It sounds like... you've already made your decision." Grillby commented delibrately. 

The skeleton sighed. "I guess." 

The rest of the bar was filled with conversations that sounded more like static than ever. 

\---- 

The golden glow of the Last Corridor was what first alerted Sans to the appearance of the human. Or rather, it was the shadow they cast in the hallway. Sans looked over at them, smiling eternally. "Heya." 

"Hey yourself," they greeted, smiling as well, "Have you thought about it?" 

Sans made eye contact with the kid. They were smiling, but a darkness haunted their shockingly red eyes. "A little," he said offhandedly, "Are you headed in to fight the king?" 

They nodded, "Are you going to change things up? Spend the timelines with me?" 

Sans shrugged, "You already know your judgment. Get on to the king." 

"You didn't answer my question." It was anger in the depths of their eyes. Sans saw it now. "Don't make this mistake." 

The judge looked away. 

"You don't even have a choice! If you don't change things up, then we both get screwed over!" 

Sans walked into the shadows, preparing to warp away. 

"That's fine! Run away if you want to! You have to answer me eventually!" 

Sans was already gone. 

\---- 

Flowey absorbed him, as per usual. Sans knew the flower could remember the timelines as well, but for whatever reason didn't change much either. 

The skeleton found the quiet of not-yet being SAVED good for thinking. It seemed that the human really wanted him to change up what he did, which Sans could understand. Things really were boring when time repeated and nothing one did was constant. He could also understand the human's anger at him for not being ready to change. Sans imagined they'd had plenty of time themselves to debate their own moralities. Sans hadn't thought on it much. 

\---- 

Sans looked away from the sun hanging low in the sky to watch the human. Their eyes were on him. "What's up, kiddo?" 

"You didn't say yes. I gave you the whole timeline, and you didn't agree to break your habits." They frowned, staring up into Sans' hollow sockets. 

"My child?" Toriel. Sans had nearly forgotten they weren't alone. "Is something the matter?" 

"I even did a pacifist timeline for you! What more do you want?" The child bunched up their hands into fists, "You can't avoid this forever." 

Sans looked away. He wanted to avoid all of their eyes; everyone was watching him with a mix of curiosity and something else. Sans was reminded of how alone he was in this whole situation. "Are you ever going to stop? Resetting? Persisting?" He asked instead. 

The wool of his blanket scratched his face, and it seemed Sans had his answer. But the lie was drowning in the humans' red eyes as the world blinked away. 

\---- 

"So let me get this straight," the human began, "after almost five hundred timelines of relative silence, you finally come clean about remembering my resets." 

Sans nodded dumbly. He'd been waiting for the human outside the ruins with his hand outstretched like usual when they charged out looking bothered. He assumed that they were still mad at his refusal to work with them. 

"And then you still don't change anything? That doesn't make sense." They puffed out their cheeks. 

The monster was having his doubts. He hadn't expected this sort of reaction from them. His initial idea was them torturing him slowly, but the kid was right. With his knowing, what Sans did now was vital to how the rest of the timelines would go. On the outside, his decision was a win/win or lose/lose one. But the skeleton still had his doubts. Could he trust the human? Did he want to? Even now, Sans wasn't fully sure of what the human had planned for them. 

They took his hand, forcing it out again. "Just following the script," they bitterly replied to his thoughts. Sans blinked in slight shock, but his smile remained. He really didn't understand this human. They were constantly between moods and ideas. The soulless human before him was something of an enigma. Sans didn't know them beyond that they were rather untrustworthy. 

The human's hand was covered in dust. 

\---- 

Down the golden hall again came the human. They were smiling like they knew what was coming next, which they did, of course, but there was more anger in their eyes than usual. "Have you thought about it?"  

Sans waited patiently for them, as if he actually had anything else to do. They seemed to be in a better mood. Perhaps it was the genocide. 

"Come on! I know you remember the resets, we've talked about this." The looked away, frowning pointedly, "Screw the rules and let's have some fun, already! Neither of us can have any fun if you never break the script!" 

"Let's just get to the point," Sans readied his attacks. 

"What did I just say? Stop following the script so we can have some fun." They pouted. 

"Kids like you," he repeated, verbatim, "should be burning in hell." 

The kid smiled and laughed a little. They had little problem with deviating from the script. In fact, they often did it, just to get new reactions from monsters. Sans knew that before and knew it even better now. "I'll see you there, Comedian." 

\----

They only ever really talked in the Last Corridor. Mostly because Sans was afraid of how Papyrus might react if he acted differently around the human. Sans glanced over at the quiet human, who was surveying the world outside the windows, with a stern frown. "So, I've been wondering, kid." 

They blinked. "What's that?" 

"Why change the sweater? I mean, out of all the things you've done over the timelines, that's the one I understand the least." 

"Well..." They hesitantly rolled on their toes, "The purple one wasn't my sweater. So I got rid of it." 

Sans raised an eye ridge. 

The human huffed out a loud, exasperated breath. "You know I'm not Frisk, right? Like you've at least figured out that much?" 

"I've had the idea." He'd had the idea of them being soulless for awhile now. It wasn't entirely impossible that another spirit of some kind could have taken control over the soulless body, Sans just hadn't found it very likely. 

They rolled their eyes and gave a small laugh, "Whatever. The name's Chara." 

"Wait... Chara? Like the first human Chara?" Sans watched their face for any change in expression, but they just looked mildly exasperated. How was it possible? The first human to fall had somehow persisted long enough to take control over Frisk. Sans' eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Wait, who else knows about this?" 

"Just you and me. Oh, Flowey might know, too." Chara put a finger to their chin in thought. "Me and Petals don't talk much. I think he's kind of jealous that Frisk took his reset power or something." 

Sans nodded, thinking. "So you're possessing Frisk's body? Is that what's going on here?" 

Chara shook their head immediately, but after a second they stopped. "No—well, maybe. If anything, they're haunting me." Mumbled under their breath as if he wasn't meant to hear the last bit, Chara motioned at the air wildly. 

"What was that last bit?" 

"Nothing!" The human smiled, bouncing on their toes, "Actually, Frisk sort of gave me their soul? So don't paint me as the bad guy here. Totally consensual soul stealing, if there is such a thing. But that's not really the point. I changed sweaters because this is mine and the blue one wasn't." 

They sat in silence for a minute, Sans to think about what he just learned about his companion and Chara to recollect themselves. A moment more passed before the childish voice of the first-human piped up, "How about now?" Chara interrupted Sans' thoughts, "You have to be getting tired of all this nonsense." 

He was. Saying no to their proposition was boring him, probably more so than it bothered the kid. But it was one thing to follow a script and another to consent to the genocide of his people. Sans looked away from the kid in thought. The lights in the hall were bold, silently blinding the skeleton, but he stared up at the windows anyway. In all honesty, Chara would win this argument in the end. There was really no debate that needed to happen. They could reset and Sans couldn't. They literally had forever to get him to change his mind. But Sans was sure he could persist against them a little while longer. 

In the end, it was that dark curiosity and maybe a bit of pity that eventually made Sans' decision for him. He wasn't dreaming of hurting others. Bending them as he pleased. Making them cry. (A shiver worked its way up his spine). His reasoning was equally as selfish, however. Sans was tired, really. Tired of the world playing out Chara's little game like some huge, screwed up dollhouse and Sans was their favorite little doll. Not because he was the most beautiful doll but because he was the most easily broken. Sans reasoned that if he joined Chara instead of opposing them, then he would at least have a say in some way, however minor. Even if he didn't change anything at all, at least the human would leave him alone. Target others as opposed to him. 

"Okay," Sans said after a minute of silence. 

"Okay!" Chara repeated, "Then let's get started! How exciting!" 

Perhaps it was time to say goodbye to the Sans he thought he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update sometime in the future? Probably next week at some point.  
> Thanks for reading! This chapter was a hassle and I more-or-less rushed the ending. Hope it still works alright.  
> Comments appreciated!


	3. Where the Flowers Grow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding happens at an unnaturally fast rate for no particular reason.

Sans was staring at the ceiling in thought. After the kid left to finish off the timeline, Sans was given some time to contemplate. Without Sans' notice, the world had turned him back to his in Snowdin. Papyrus wasn't awake yet and the house in Snowdin was shrouded in silence. Sans rolled over if bed with a sigh.

He was anxious, but also somewhat excited. The skeleton had all but promised he'd break his habits and do something new, and it wasn't every timeline he woke up early. His little rebellion against the timelines began early; with Sans getting up when in any other timeline he would have returned to sleep.

Instead, Sans figured he could go down to his lab. It sure had been awhile since he'd been so proactive. The short skeleton had to laugh, because in reality it had only been about a month.

\----

Sans was waiting for Chara when they left the ruins. There wasn't any dust sticking to them, to Sans' relief, but there was an odd glint in their eyes. "What's up?" Sans asked, opting to break from his usual script.

Chara didn't seem surprised, but the darkness in their eyes parted. "Just excited for all the new possibilities that come with you not being so rigid all the time."

Sans coughed into his sleeve and toyed with the fray of his jacket. "Yeah, yeah, kid. Something bothering you?" If something was bothering them, it was bothering him. While Sans was still reeling from Chara's true identity, he was also still wary of the human. Sans silently reminded himself to check out a book from the library on the first human.

"Just thinking," they replied offhandedly, "What do you say to skipping Snowdin?"

Sans' permanent smile shifted. He knew they were going to change things up, but he wasn't sure where the kid was going with this one. "Any reason why, kiddo?"

"I was thinking we could just skip ahead a bit with those shortcuts of yours. Aren't you curious how the story would change if we skipped ahead to Undyne?" Chara looked up at him. The conversation lulled, so Chara supplied, "I tried before to skip over certain areas. With all this unique terrain it's sometimes easy to forget we're trapped in a cave with a set path. But I figure you shortcuts can circumvent that, right?"

Sans had masked his curiosity for long enough, and to be honest: he was curious. What in the world did this kid have planned? Confiding in him? Asking for help? Sans had assumed opening up to Chara meant they would just torture him for all eternity despite any claims they'd made. He held out a hand.

Chara blinked, but grabbed his hand nonetheless, seemingly oblivious to the war raging in Sans' mind. "So how do these shortcuts work anyway?"

The space around them warped as the skeleton took a step forward. Within an instant, the snowy floor below them had become the wet stone of Waterfall. Splashes of water caught on Chara's sweater. Basically, Sans was avoiding the question, but when the human looked up to berate him, the skeleton was frozen in his tracks. The reason why being the blue scaled fish monster watching them with curious eyes.

Her eyes flashed from Sans to the human and then back to Sans. "Is that a human?" She didn't have her armor on yet, seeing how early Chara had arrived. It also didn't help that they had bypassed the royal guard's security with Sans' teleport. It wasn't often that one caught the captain of the royal guard off her guard. The skeleton almost chuckled. He'd have to use that one later.

Sans looked to Chara for answers. He was far too uncomfortable with messing around with the timelines to alter events as much as he was. The skeleton's eye lights shot around at the muck of Waterfall. This had been a mistake. He should have just stayed in Snowdin and followed his rules. The rules that kept the timelines from collapsing on one another. Sans motioned to take a step back, but Chara cut off his intrusive thoughts.

"Greetings, Undyne," they supplied.

The fish monster looked to Sans for a brief moment before turning back to the human. "How does this punk know my name, Sans?" Irritation clouded her eyes. Undyne magicked a spear into the palm of her hand, "Don't tell me you've been making friends with a human?"

Sans winced internally. He knew this was a bad idea. Maybe if he turned back now, then—

"Oh, we are not friends," Chara piped up to Sans' left. A heaviness settled in Sans' soul and he couldn't place why. "But he did take me over here."

Undyne's eye narrowed, but she didn't speak. Hesitation was in her frown. Though the human had yet to threaten an attack, Undyne shot her spear towards the child. Chara smirked and charged forward as well, armed with a knife Sans didn't realize they had yet.

The battle that followed was one Sans would rather forget.

\----

Undyne's dust caught in the stream and disappeared somewhere behind them. It bunched up on Sans' bones. Sans was mostly numb to the killing by this point. Hundreds of genocides could do that to a monster. He'd have a battle in his head later over whether that was really a good thing.

"I took care of Undyne for you," Chara frowned at him, "so you have to kill the next monster we see." They said it like a command, but Chara's tone was gentle in a way Sans didn't know they were capable of. At Sans' silence, the human continued, if not a bit hesitantly, "But You're a virgin when it comes to killing. So I guess we can take it slow."

Sans looked away.

"I was getting tired of Waterfall, anyway." They looked down at their toes, a small smile playing on their features, "I've got an idea."

"What's that, kid?" Sans was less curious and more thankful for Chara's understanding. He'd be lying if he didn't say he was surprised at their acceptance. The homicidal human was friendly to a point. It was sort of putting Sans off.

"Mettaton is supposed to be working on his show now, isn't he? Usually I'm fighting him around now." Chara kicked up some snow idly.

Sans didn't watch Chara fight the robot often. His brother always did, when he wasn't dead, so Sans caught the battle on occasion. But after the first hundred reiterations of the same show, Sans stopped watching it. "He's probably waiting for a human to show up," Sans looked pointedly at Chara, testing his luck, "So I'd say that's a yes."

Chara huffed, "So I know your brother really likes that tin can. But I can't say for sure that you ever had an opinion on him."

Scoffing, Sans replied, "Haven't seen much of that guy. MTT's show gets really boring when it always the same episode."

Chara smiled devilishly, "I'll bet."

Sans relented with a sigh, "You going to crash his show, Kid?" He was only silent for a moment before reaching out a hand for the kid to take. There really wasn't much point in fighting them and Sans would be lying if he said breaking his rules was somewhat exciting. So Sans warped them to Mettaton's stage. Chara was adamant abut skipping over Alphys, saying it would be fun to see her reaction to the skeleton helping the human later. Sans agreed without much complaint, despite knowing that Alphys had been able to watch them over her cameras the whole time. She probably already knew what he had allowed to happen to Undyne.

Chara guided him through the area, on the lookout for a robot that probably already knew they were there. They held onto Sans' hand despite his shaking attempts to pull away. It wasn't just the kid that put him on edge, but Hotland itself. The Core, too. Why, he hadn't been to the Core since...

The human glanced at the air around them, frown set on their face. Chara's eyes looked pensive, which was more than Sans had seen before. Beyond distant and homicidal, the human's eyes were rather lacking in expression. Chara shook their head. Sans didn't say a word.

\----

When they found MTT, he was sprawled out on the counter of his cooking show's kitchen rather seductively. He would have pulled off the look better if he wasn't still a large, flamboyant rectangle. They'd have to wait a little while into the battle for that reveal.

Chara glanced over at Sans, not thanking him, but also not looking away. "You could kill him." They said after a moment.

"I'll pass." He was still watching Mettaton who was staring back at him with an unreadable expression flashing across in a lightbulb code.

Instead of replying, Chara turned to the robot. A conflicted frown dashed across their face before disappearing behind a mask of gleeful contentment once again.

Mettaton and the kid shared a few words, but Sans was too busy sorting through his own mind to listen. Honestly, the Chara was sending him some mixed signals. They went from a crazy, psychotic killer to a troubled, kind child within seconds. He just did not understand. Was that kindness Frisk's influence? Or was it Chara's? Sans didn't want to think about it too much.

Which was good, because some of Mettaton's bullets were just narrowly dodged at the last second. That tin can was shooting his attacks out more for show than damage. The human wasn't complaining from where they stood, but it looked as though they had MTT's attacks memorized. Chara looked bored. Out of nothing more than obligation, Sans dodged any of the stray attacks that went his way. If Mettaton had noticed Sans' presence, it was only made apparent by the ten to twenty bullets shot his way. A whole barrage was launched at Chara, though only two hit. They charged behind Mettaton and—

Chara didn't flip the switch. They stabbed it. Twelve times.

The lights in Mettaton's eyes dimmed and Chara stood up. "That was fun."

"It was enlightening," Sans joked, but his posture was tense. A thought had been worming its way into his mind for a while now. Distracted by the robot corpse at his feet, the skeleton hadn't fully realized. But now...

There was a camera. Many cameras. Which wasn't a problem. Not really. The problem was that on special occasions, MTT broadcasted live. Which also wasn't a problem. The only real problem was that Papyrus always watched those broadcasts.

Chara was watching him curiously from the edges of his dimming vision.

Papyrus didn't even know the kid in this timeline, but Sans was still standing next to a murderer. He thought about his brother. Would Paps hate him? Despise him? ...Fear him? Sans was beginning to think coming here was a mistake.

"Dude, what the hell."

...then again maybe he had other things to worry about. But Sans just couldn't get past the idea of Papyrus watching Sans allow Mettaton's murder to happen. Something slapped his back a few times and it only took a minute before Sans realized Chara was attempting to calm him down.

Red eyes flashed up to meet his, "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Sans took another breath to relax his soul. Deciding to open up slightly, he supplied, "Paps just watched that. He's still watching this now." His white bead eyes glanced at a camera to his left; red light on and somehow not broken throughout the battle.

Chara followed his eyes to the camera and smiled for it. "So? After Alphys and the king I'll just reset again. No biggie."

Despite any morality Sans thought he had, the idea actually reassured him. Sans smashed the camera to pieces with a magic bone. "Yeah. Okay."

\----

Alphys' heavy breathing could be heard from behind the two and Sans felt his spine stiffen. Chara seemed similarly put off despite their brutal assassination of the robot moments earlier. The red eyed child was the first to turn around.

They didn't get the option to fight Alphys very often, and it showed. Chara's movements were a mix of unsure and energized, but they walked confidently over to Alphys nonetheless. Sans waited for Alphys to get back up and fight...

...and waited...

And—

Chara slit her throat without a word. Their eyes were red and smiling.

And looking back on It, Sans shouldn't have expected much else. Undyne and Mettaton. Then Alphys. Break her will to live and you don't even have to fight.

Chara led him past the pile of dust.

\----

With that timeline finished, the two teleported to Waterfall immediately after the ruins. An old statue played its raindrop song.

Chara had been quiet and watchful. It had taken all through their battle with the king for Sans to recognize their movements as cautious and testing. Like they wanted to tell him something and weren't sure how he'd respond. Sans could understand that much.

So while they were staring blankly at the crystals somewhere above, Sans commented quietly, "Papyrus didn't remember the fight with MTT last time."

They were silent.

"Obviously. He's never remember the resets before so why would he start now? I mean—"

"I was dead, Sans!" Chara yelled, tears in their eyes, "I was dead!"

The skeleton jumped slightly at the outburst, but calmed quickly, turning to watch the kid. "Kiddo, we've all been dead. Most of us by your hands."

The human shook their head, tear droplets like rain pattering softly on the stone of Waterfall. It tapped along to the music the statue made. "You don't get it! I was dead! For years disintegrating in the dirt next to worms and stones. Spiders have crawled over my lifeless corpse and—" Chara choked out a sob, "I'm disgusting, Sans. A lifeless monster, a real monster, stuck inside a body that isn't my own. I'm not supposed to be like this! My skin is crawling! Frisk's skin is crawling! I don't belong here! Not anymore!"

Sans was taken aback, but he didn't move to comfort the human. He was still bitter. But he did understand Chara, at least of all the things Sans hated about himself, his body wasn't a priority; he was all skin and bones minus the skin. "Then why'd you take Frisk's soul? I mean, couldn't you have just stayed dead?"

"I thought..." The pitter-patter of water was its own tune and its own memory playing out softly in Chara's head. They wiped the tears from their face, but red streaks still marked the path. Chara placed a hand on the statue. "I thought I could be with my family again."

"Can't you?" Sans looked up. Raindrops fell from somewhere nonspecific above, "Toriel loves you, kid."

Chara laughed, but it wasn't malevolent like Sans was used to. It was bitter and sad instead. "She doesn't love me. She hardly even remembers me. When Mom sees me, she sees all the other human kids she couldn't save. Mom just sees me as another replacement child. But I'm not a replacement! It's me! Chara! Why can't she just love me! Why did Mom have to replace me! If Frisk were still in control then she could be happy with her fake-me and I could be dead where I belong. It isn't fair, Sans. Why can't Toriel love me like she used to? How could she just replace me so easily? Is it really that easy to get rid of me? To replace me with a better version?" They sighed, "We could have been so happy."

"Yeah," Sans was looking away, not wanting to watch the person he was born to hate sob like the child they were, "But everyone already is happy."

Chara pulled at the fraying edges of their sweater. "Everyone but us."

Sans looked away. He wasn't sure when they had grown so close together, Chara and him. 490 timelines of hatred between the two shattered in the 491st? Sans could't make sense of it. Maybe they'd been growing closer without even realizing it. But his hesitant demeanor couldn't change that fact that a certain softness didn't exist between the two of them. For a brief moment, Sans and Chara were closer than ever; both suffering for maybe the same reason. Maybe not. The kid had been surprisingly gentle with him for the last few timelines and at that moment, Sans wondered if he'd been mistaken about the human the whole time.

There were flowers growing on Chara's soul. Tall, gorgeous things that spread out and covered the earth. The air smelled of summer and the flowers were vivid with golden glory. Growing and growing with petals and leaves to sing in the wind when touched. So full of life and so lush with color. In Chara's eyes, Sans could see a garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Sorry it wasn't worth it.  
> Next Update: Uncanny Valley  
> If I write the next chapter, I guess.
> 
> Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I've got some big plans for this; now it's just a matter of getting their. Updates may take awhile but they should be decent in length. Chapters through to 17 already planned out.  
> ALSO: In need of some good Gaster theories if anyone has any. Thanks.
> 
> Comments appreciated!


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